Running Up That Hill
by wheresXolive
Summary: Oh, the tangled webs we weave...In the aftermath of Trey's shooting, Ryan, Marissa, Summer, and Seth try to move on, but certain circumstances make that difficult. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: I own nothing…….

I wrote this story a while ago, a bit after the 'The Aftermath'. I had uploaded it on this site a while back as well, but smarty-pants here forgot the password for that penname so now I'm uploading it on my new one. I made some changes, enjoy!

And review, review, review!!!!!!

------------------------------

She didn't think, she didn't hesitate...

She pulled the trigger.

------------------------------ 

Ryan opened his eyes groggily while lifting his head a little off the pillow. He turned to the left and looked at his clock; 10:15 a.m, _Should probably get out of bed_, he told himself. He walked in a sleepy haze into the Cohen's kitchen. He knew Sandy wouldn't be home, he was out doing Newport business things. Seth would probably be in his room getting ready to meet Summer at the Crab Shack. He was looking forward to having the kitchen to himself. He was way to tired and just not in the mood to talk. However, his small moment of solitude was ended when Seth came running down the stairs, putting on his watch. 

"Hey man", he said, sounding a little out of breath. 

"Hey, you going to meet Summer?" 

"Yep, you wanna come?" Seth knew Ryan would say no, but he just had to say that out loud. 

"No, thanks" Ryan replied. 

"Yea, you probably don't want to be there anyway. I've been trying to avoid Summer's rage blackouts. As you can see I haven't been doing a very good job". 

Ryan let out a short laugh. "Well good luck then". 

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it", and with that Seth walked out the door. 

Finally alone, Ryan poured himself a cup of coffee and looked out the window. He stood there for a while and just thought about things. It had become somewhat of a habit lately. One week had passed since Marissa shot Trey, and the couple hasn't talked since. Not so much for the reason that they are bitter towards each other, but they both knew it would just be awkward. Ryan wished it wouldn't be, however, one of the very few things they had in common were the fact that neither of them were good with words. Hopefully Summer would talk about Marissa to Seth, then Ryan could just ask him about it later. 

Ryan's thoughts wandered to his relationship with Marissa when the first started going out. They had fun and were open with each other. There was nothing Ryan wanted more then to go back to that, to be able to just talk to her again. But that was impossible, too much had happened.

Ryan put down his cup of coffee and sighed. Did she miss him as much as he missed her? 

------------------------------

From the entrance, Seth scanned the area of the Crab Shack until he spotted Summer in a booth near the back by a window. Brainstorming for a quick way to make her laugh (and forget he was late), Seth snuck up behind her, reached his arm over her shoulder, and attempted to take a fry off the plate in front of her while kissing her cheek. 

"Hmm nice try Cohen" Summer said after slapping his hand away. 

"Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?" Seth asked in a desperate, yet obviously sarcastic way to redeem himself. 

Luckily, his plan worked. Summer giggled and replied, "Chill, I'm not mad".

She was really just glad to be able to spend some laid-back alone time with Seth. There had been so much drama circulating around Ryan and Marissa lately, Summer was thankful to get away from it for a little while. She had asked Marissa if she wanted to come along, but all she had been doing lately is moping around her room, and, although Summer would never admit it, she was a bit relieved when Marissa had declined the invitation. Marissa was like a negative energy now. Whenever they would try to hang out, you could feel a strange tension in the air, and their conversations were littered with awkward silences. She knew it would go away with time, but for now she decided to give Marissa her space. 

"Wow, that's something new!" Seth replied, while flashing her a big cheesy grin. 

"Don't push it Cohen" Summer warned. Although she would never admit it, she loved how Seth always had something sarcastic to say. Although it did get annoying at times, he was great for lightening the mood. 

"So it's just the two of us?" She asked while picking up a fry. 

"Yep, I asked Ryan if he wanted to come too, but he said no". 

"Yea I asked Marissa too, but she also said no". There was a short pause between the two of them. 

"So are we gonna talk about Ryan and Marissa again?" Summer asked bluntly, breaking the silence. 

"I'm not gonna lie, they're a _very_ interesting topic". 

"Yea, they've got issues". 

"You're telling me", Seth replied, "I can't believe they haven't even talked to each other about it yet". 

"They never talk about _anything_" Summer pointed out. This was true. Whenever a problem would come up between Ryan and Marissa, they usually just fought about it for a while, and then broke up. Then, eventually, it would blow up in their faces. This had happened last year with Oliver, then again this year with Trey. Summer was pretty sure she wasn't the only one seeing a pattern here. 

"We should get them to talk, like set them up on a date without them knowing or something". 

"No!" Summer replied immediately, "Cohen you _can't_ do that!" 

"Why not?" It was typical Seth to want to meddle. 

"Because, Cohen, you can't get in the middle of this. When people interfere with their relationship _bad things happen_. Okay, Seth, people get shot". 

Seth couldn't argue with that logic, but he was still going to try. 

"But I know Ryan wants to. What if I just brought it up subtly, like in the middle of a conversation?" 

"No, Seth, I know you". 

"Please?" He begged. Summer slowed down and considered the idea for a second. She did want to know how Ryan had been dealing with this recent string of events, and it might be good for him to get his emotions out a bit. 

"Fine, but you _have_ to be subtle about it, alright? Don't try to push anything". 

"Yes, I know. Don't worry, I'll be very stealth". 

"Promise?" 

"No". 

"COHEN!" 

"Yes, yes I promise! Damn woman!"

------------------------------ 

"Marissa! Sweetie, it's 12:30, get out of bed!" Julie called from the hallway. Marissa didn't budge. It was normal for her these days to stay in bed past noon. Under the covers was her own little world, a place where she could forget about all her problems and everything that had happened and just lay there in the dark and be nobody. At nights she usually went to the lifeguard stand alone to stare out at the ocean for hours at end. Like she did every morning, Marissa bitterly reflected on the past two hectic years of her life.

_Lets see, I've overdosed, almost drove a guy to suicide, lost my boyfriend after he got his ex pregnant, became a lesbian for a while, almost got raped, then shot a guy._

It seemed so surreal. She was only 17 years old, this stuff shouldn't be happening to her! She should be out in the summer sun, having fun with all her friends. But she knew she could never just have fun without anything bad happening. Not as long as she lived in "scantily-clad" Newport Beach. 

_What if I lived in, like, Wyoming?_

No, she thought, it probably wouldn't be much different, considering most of the drama was partially her fault. 

"Rise and shine honey, let's go" Julie yelled as she walked past the door again. 

"Alright!" Marissa called in an angry tone, while throwing off the covers in an attempt to force herself out of bed. She kicked her legs over the side. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she looked at her reflection in the vanity mirror hanging on the wall in front of her. She ran her fingers through her greasy, unkempt hair while observing the bags under her eyes. 

"I'm ugly," she said out loud. She knew this wasn't true, everyone was always telling her she needed to be a model, but she _felt_ ugly. 

"You up, sweetie?" Julie asked pleasantly, poking her head through the door. She was starting to get annoying, but Marissa knew she was just doing it because she was worried, she had every right to be. 

"Yes, mom, I'm awake" Marissa replied in a monotonous voice. 

"Okay, just checking in". Julie smiled, and then left. 

Marissa muttered, "I hate you" under her breath, then immediately took it back. Julie was finally pulling her life together, just as Marissa's was falling apart. She didn't hate her. She hated Trey. He ruined everything. She finally had a functional relationship going with Ryan, and then Trey had to come and rip it to shreds. She remembered when she had told Trey that he didn't deserve a brother like Ryan, and she stood by her statement. Ryan would've done anything for him, but he just had to go and be his selfish, perverted self. Marissa felt a _little_ guilty thinking these things about Trey after she had shot him, however, another, much larger part of her really didn't. She would never apologize to Trey for what she had done, she saved Ryan, and that's all that mattered. Speaking of Ryan, he probably hated her. He hasn't even spoken to her since the shooting. 

_Way to go Marissa. You shot you boyfriend's brother, now he hates you and will never speak to you again_. 

There were so many things she wanted to say to Ryan. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry about lying to him, and complicating things, and putting him in the position he was in now. She wanted to tell him that she only meant well, that she did it to save him. That she only got involved with Trey so he would get his act together, and make Ryan happy. Everything she did was just to make him happy, but it all backfired on her. 

A thought suddenly popped into her head. What if Ryan didn't hate her, but he was just nervous to talk to her because he didn't know what to say? He wasn't exactly a master with words. She considered the possibility for a second until she drew a conclusion. 

"Nope, he hates me" she said to herself as she crawled back into bed. 

------------------------------ 

Seth returned home to find Ryan sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the table, watching T.V. For a big, muscular guy, Ryan was surprisingly lazy. 

"Hey man" Seth said with a wave. Ryan grunted in response while turning off the T.V to join Seth in the kitchen. He was a little nervous about asking Seth about Marissa. He didn't know how he would react to the question. Ryan didn't like the idea of revealing his emotions, but on the other hand, Marissa was technically still his girlfriend and she _did_ shoot his brother, so Ryan had every right to ask. 

"Brought you back a burger" Seth said as he placed the plastic bag on the countertop. 

"Thanks". Ryan swallowed, then let it out, "Hey, uh, did Summer mention Marissa at all?" 

_Wow_. Seth thought he would have to force Ryan to talk about Marissa; now he was asking him to. This just made his job a whole lot easier. 

"Yea, she did. Why?" Seth asked, trying to force Ryan to say he missed her. 

"Uh, nothing, I was just wondering how she was doing". 

"Oh, yea, um-". Seth scratched the back of his head, searching for an appropriate answer. He didn't want to be the one to tell Ryan that Marissa was doing really badly. 

"That bad, huh?" Ryan asked, reading Seth's transparent expression. 

"Yea. Summer says she rarely comes out of her room. And when she does it's at night to go to the lifeguard stand". 

"Oh". Ryan didn't know what to say to that. It seemed like she was taking it worse then him, but then again, Ryan wasn't sure how he was taking it. He had been avoiding the subject of Trey at all costs; he hadn't even visited him at the hospital. He wasn't sure if he could even look at Trey after what he did to Marissa. In fact, Ryan hadn't told anyone this, not Seth, not even the police, that when he went to Trey's apartment that night, he had every intention of killing him. He had every intention of causing him the pain he did Marissa. Although Ryan knew he most likely would've backed out at the last second, the thought still haunted him that he actually really wanted to do it. However, Ryan felt compelled to forgive Trey, partly out of guilt, and the fact that he was his brother, but that was turning out to be harder then he thought. 

"You should visit him," Seth said, reading Ryan's mind. 

"Huh?" 

"Trey. You should visit him in the hospital". 

"I don't think so". 

"You need to talk to Marissa too". Ryan gave Seth a 'shut-up-I-can-handle-this-myself' look, but he didn't seem to care. Ryan hated how serious Seth could be when he wanted to, but he was right. 

"You can't avoid them forever Ryan."

------------------------------ 

He stood in front of the large glass window looking into Trey's room. Ryan couldn't bring himself to go in there. He observed Trey's body lying in the bed. Pale, motionless. Seth had suggested that seeing Trey might make him feel better, however, it was beginning to have the opposite effect. Memories Ryan had spent an entire week working hard to forget abruptly began flooding back into his head.

_"I think something happened between Marissa and Trey" ___

_"Nothing happened" ___

_"Why do you always assume it's my fault?" __  
__"Cause it always is" ___

_"She threw herself at me" __  
__"I don't believe you" ___

_"Trey's been jerking you around your whole life, and Marissa-" __  
__"Has made mistakes" __  
__"But she would never hurt you like that" ___

_"I want you out of Newport" ___

_"He attacked her" ___

_"How could you man? I would've done anything for you" __  
__"Look man, I was messed up, I was stoned" __  
__"It wasn't my idea Trey, I didn't want to steal that car" __  
__"Yea I went away for it and uh you got the good life" __  
__"So you had to destroy it? You had to hurt her huh?!"_

Ryan clenched his hand into a fist in his pocket. He felt a lump form in his throat and his stomach sink. Every fiber in his being was urging him to storm into that room, rip all the IV's and tubes out of Trey, and finish what he had planned to do a week ago. Unfortunately, Ryan knew that wasn't and option…but there was still something he could do. He had to see Marissa; he had to make things right with her.

------------------------------ 

Marissa leaned her head against the back of the lifeguard stand and looked up at the summer night sky. It was cloudy out, so you couldn't see any stars, Marissa's favorite part of the night. She turned her head down at looked out over the dark horizon. The dark, endless ocean made her feel so small. She liked that. She liked the feeling that there was something more then this life on Earth, and there were bigger things out there then _here_ and _now_. It made her feel like the whole situation with Trey was so trivial, like it didn't even matter at all.

But it _wasn't_, and it _did_. 

She wished the whole ordeal had never happened. She wished on an imaginary star that she had never went to the beach with Trey, that she had never told Summer what happened, that is had never gotten back to Ryan. She closed her eyes and tried to take it all back. Maybe if she undid it in her mind, it would be erased from real life. She squeezed her eyes tight, however, when she opened them again, everything was still the same. She was still at the beach, Trey was still in the hospital, and Ryan still hated her. 

Marissa was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn't even notice someone walking up the ramp of the lifeguard stand. Marissa held her breath as the dark figure approached her. As the person came close enough for her to make out their face, Marissa exhaled with relief.

It was Ryan.

She was so confused. For a second she was sure that Ryan had come to confront her. Instead, he just sat down next to her. Marissa looked at him as he sat down, his facial expression was unreadable. She looked back that the ocean, both nervous and scared. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryan look back at her, then back out to the ocean.

Suddenly, Marissa lost control herself, and broke down. 

"_I'm sorry_" She said as tears began streaming down her face. 

Ryan was caught off guard; this wasn't exactly how he pictured talking to Marissa. He searched his mind, but still could not find the right words to say to her, and she just repeated what she was saying over and over.

"_I'm sorry_..._I'm sorry_" She croaked out between sobs. Ryan put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him; a sudden sense of clarity had flooded into his mind.

"Don't be".


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks so much for the nice reviews! I like this story a lot and I'm glad you guys do too. I hope this chapter pleases you as well .

Enjoy!

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Ryan sat on the edge of the bed and finished tying his shoe. It was 9:30 in the morning when he left the pool house and made his way to the Cohen kitchen. 

"Morning Ryan" Sandy greeted him as he entered. 

"Gooood morning!" Seth said with a mouthful of bagel. 

"You want some coffee Ryan?" Sandy asked. 

"Yea, sure" Ryan responded, taking a seat at the counter next to Seth. Sandy rummaged through the old take-out cartons, pizza boxes, and dirty dishes until he found a mug that looked relatively clean. 

"So what do you guys have planned for today? Any parties, drugs? Because you know you can always count me in for that" Sandy said a she handed Ryan a cup of coffee. 

"Dad, I can't take _old man_ a rager with me; it would ruin my rep" Seth replied matter-of-factly. 

"Maybe if you a rep," Ryan said while making a face at Seth, who made a similar one back, "we're going to meet Marissa and Summer at the beach". 

Sandy raised his eyebrows at this statement. Ryan, Seth, Marissa, and Summer hanging out at the beach meant Ryan and Marissa would be hanging out. It didn't take a lawyer to figure that one out, but Sandy thought they had broken up. 

"So everything with you and Marissa is good?" Sandy asked. 

"Yea, actually, we talked a couple days ago". 

"Well that's great. It's good to see you kids all hanging out together". 

"Okay" Ryan simply replied. For some reason, he hated when people said things like that. 

"Yea well," Seth piped in, "after two days of watching Ryan and I play Super Smash Brothers, Summer decided we need to spice up our lives. As if Super Smash Brothers _isn't_ spicy". 

"What is wrong with her?" Sandy replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"I don't know," Seth replied as he left his seat at the counter and opened up the fridge, "do we have any more milk?" 

"So hey, I'm going to visit Kirstin today, you guys have anything you want me to tell her?" 

"Tell her I said hi" Ryan replied. Sandy nodded his head, Ryan wasn't a man of many words. 

"Tell her to come home soon," Seth said as he reached his hand into the back of the fridge looking for his milk. Finally finding some, he pulled it out and twisted off the cap, "this place seriously needs a feminine touch" he added before taking a sip of milk, then immediately spitting it back out. 

"This milk's bad" he said while putting it back in the fridge. 

------------------------------

Sandy entered the courtyard of the Suriak Rehab Institute and spotted Kirsten sitting on a bench in front of a small pond about 30 feet from him. Her head was down; she seemed to be looking at a nearby bush. Sandy had walked about halfway to her when she lifted her head and noticed him coming. She got up off the bench and almost ran to him. She threw her around his neck and squeezed him tight. He hugged back. 

"Hey" she said quietly, her face buried in his shoulder. 

"Hey honey, how are you?" They let go their embrace and looked at each other. 

"I'm good, I'm really good," she said, rubbing her hands up and down his forearms. 

"That's good" Sandy replied. They started walking down the gravel path thought the garden. 

"Yea, in fact, they say if I keep doing as good as I am now, I could come home in just a week or two," she said while linking arms with him. 

"Hey! That's amazing!" Sandy smiled and kissed her cheek, "I'm so proud you honey". Kirstin looked down. She didn't deserve any compliments, and felt guilty receiving them. 

"I'm so sorry, Sandy," she said, looking back up at him. 

"We know, it's okay," he said while giving her a reassuring rub on the back with his hand. For a moment neither of them spoke. 

"So how are you? How are the boys?" Kirstin asked, breaking the silence. 

"I'm good. Ryan says hi, and Seth says come home soon" Sandy replied, grinning down at her, trying to cheer her up. 

"That's sweet," she said, smiling and looking down. She felt so bad doing this to her boys, abandoning them like this. 

"So how's Trey been by the way?" she asked, speaking of boys, "has the job at the Bait Shop been working out for him?"

Sandy hesitated for a moment, "Uh, yea, yea, Trey's fine" he replied. 

"That's good".

------------------------------

"No! No way, Cohen! You're not dragging me to another one of your Japanese ninja flicks!" 

"Aw, come on Summer. You liked it last time". 

"I did not!" Summer exclaimed while punching his arm. It was 5:30 and the sun was still high in the sky. Ryan, Seth, Marissa, and Summer were walking down the beach trying to decide on a movie to see. 

"Hey, maybe if we can't decide on a movie, we should just figure out something else to do" Marissa interjected, trying to make peace. 

"Or we could just go by ourselves" Ryan replied provocatively, putting his arm around Marissa's waist. 

"Or we could just go back to your place by ourselves" Marissa said, giving him a suggestive smile. A huge grin spread across Ryan's face as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her lips. 

"Okay, you guys don't even pretend for a second to be functional couple! I've seen you in action!" Summer exclaimed. Marissa just smiled smugly back at her. 

"Alright, Summer, if you refuse decide on a movie, then maybe we should just play video games again; I can hear SSB just calling my name," Seth chimed in. 

"Yea," Summer replied, with a sarcastic grin on her face, "then we can read comic books and listen to Death Cab!" 

"Yea!" Seth exclaimed excitedly. 

"No!" Summer retorted while pushing Seth with her hip. Seth pushed her back, then put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. She leaned her head back on his shoulder. Seth and Summer had a funny way of arguing for one minute, then acting all lovey-dovey the next. Ryan thought it was a little annoying; Marissa just found it amusing. 

"Hey, I know something we can do tonight!" Marissa piped up. However, she was cut off by Ryan's cell phone ringing. He pulled it out his pocket and looked at the screen; it was Sandy. Ryan's smile faded a bit. Sandy calling was almost never good. 

"Hello?" he said, putting the phone to his ear, "Hey. Yea...really? Yea…yea okay. Alright, thanks. Bye" 

He snapped the phone shut and looked at the others. Seth had a feeling this was bad, and the look on Ryan's face wasn't exactly reassuring. Marissa's stomach sank, and Summer felt her heart skip a beat. They all stopped walking and stared at Ryan. 

"Trey's awake," he finally said.

------------------------------

It was 7:45 at night, and the sun was just starting to set. Ryan was sitting in his car in the hospital parking lot. He usually liked how the sun stayed up longer in the summer, but now he wished it would just go down so this day could be over. He had arrived at the hospital at around 7:00, and since then he had been sitting in the driver's seat looking out the front window, debating whether he should go in or not. Deep down he knew he had to; he was simply trying to postpone the event as long as possible. He remembered last time he tried to visit Trey; it had only enraged him further. He thought, even if he did go in, what would he say to Trey? He didn't want to go in there and tell him everything was all right, because it wasn't, but he also didn't want to just barge into his room and confront him again. 

Ryan placed his hand around the top of the steering wheel and gripped it tight. This whole situation was so messed up. For a second he thought, _I could be doing it with Marissa right now_. He immediately chased that thought out of his head. It was a bit disturbing that he was thinking about sex when his brother had just woken up from a coma. He was well aware that he was just trying to distract himself, and frankly, Ryan didn't like the idea of his mind playing tricks on him. 

_Alright Ryan, be a man, go face your own brother._

He went back to two years ago, when Trey had called him a "little bitch". He was beginning to think he was right. Ryan closed his eyes tight and pressed his forehead against the top of the steering wheel. 

_Do it_, he told himself, _you have to do it_. 

He lifted up his head and angrily whipped open the door. Seth's voice suddenly popped into his mind, _"You can't avoid them forever Ryan"_. 

"Yea, yea, I'm going," he said out loud. 

It was 7:55 when Ryan finally got into the hospital. He had walked through the hospital parking lot at a very quick speed, and waited very impatiently for one second as the automatic doors opened. He really just wanted to get this over with. Ryan managed to avoid the nurses and go straight to Trey's room. Walking though the hallway, he kept his head down looking at his feet and his hands in his pockets, searching for anything he might say to Trey when he sees him. However, when he made it to Trey's room, he noticed something very wrong. 

It was empty. 

There was a nurse in the room making the bed; Ryan stopped her on her way out. 

"Excuse me, do you know where Trey Atwood is?" He asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. 

"Um, let me check" she responded, putting her head down and flipping through the papers on her clipboard. 

"Uh- he used to be in this room". 

"Oh yea," she looked up at Ryan, "he checked out about and hour ago". 

"Oh," Ryan was taken back by this, "okay, thank you". The nurse gave him a sweet smile and walked away. 

------------------------------

Trey sat on the worn-out couch in his apartment, staring at the duffel bag next to the door. He picked up his cell phone and began to dial a number. He only got to dialing four numbers before he shook his head and put the phone back down. He leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. He was disappointed when Ryan didn't come to the hospital to see him. But then again, he was also relieved. What would he say to Ryan? A simple 'I'm sorry' just didn't cut it.

He understood why he wouldn't want to come. He _did_ try to kill him last time they saw each other. This memory brought Marissa back to his mind. Sandy had stopped by about a half hour after he had woken up, and informed Trey about everything that had happened while he was out. Apparently, the police had let Marissa off with self-defense, and nobody had pressed charges. 

He turned his head to his left and the stared down the hallway to his bedroom. He thought about how screwed up his life was. He went to jail, used his little brother's new life to pull himself back together, tried to make a move on his girlfriend, then almost killed him.

_It's that Atwood family luck_, he thought to himself.

_No_, he couldn't blame this on bad luck; it was his own damn fault. 

Suddenly, there was a single loud knock on the door, waking Trey up from his daydreams. Before he could get up to answer, the door flung open, and Ryan stepped in. Trey stared at him blankly for a second. Ryan looked down and swallowed, seeming a bit out of breath. He was obviously nervous. 

"Hey man" Trey finally said, looking down. He could not stand to look Ryan in the eye. Ryan appeared to have the same problem. He was looking at the wall behind Trey's head. 

"Hey" Ryan replied. There was a long silence, as both brothers stared in opposite directions. 

"Sandy stopped by earlier", Trey said, clearly _he_ would probably have to do all the talking here, "He told me Marissa didn't get in any real trouble, that's good". 

"Yea, it is". Ryan was now forcing words off his tongue. He had such mixed feelings towards Trey; he was having trouble even talking to him. Half of Ryan wanted to finish what he had started the last time they saw each other, the other half of him wanted to apologize to Trey for overreacting. But for the most park, Ryan just wanted to leave. He regretted coming; he regretted letting this whole situation get out of hand and leading to this. He turned his head to the right and looked down; it was then he noticed the duffel bag sitting on the ground next to the door. 

"You goin' somewhere?" Ryan asked, nodding his head towards the bag. Trey looked down for a second and roughly scratched the back of his head before looking back at Ryan answering. 

"Yea, actually I was gonna get of here" Trey replied. Ryan scrunched his eyebrows together, looked down at the duffle bag, the back at Trey. 

"Wh-what do mean?" He asked, puzzled. 

"You know, Vegas, L.A, somewhere" he replied, standing up from the couch and walking around Ryan to get to his bag. Ryan noticed the area of rug he walked over; there would be a coffee table there, _if_ they didn't break it. 

"Hold on, what?" he asked, turning towards Trey. 

"I'm leaving Ryan" Trey responded, looking down again at his bag. 

"No, Trey you don't have-" Trey cut him off before he could finish his sentence. 

"I do, Ryan. Look, you had a good thing going for you here, then I showed up and ruined it, and I'm sorry" Ryan looked down at his feet and shook his head, "You we're right...I don't belong here". Trey turned around and went to open the door. 

"Trey, wait-" Trey cut him off once again, but his time not with words. He grabbed Ryan's shoulder, gave it a squeezed and patted it twice. 

"See ya later Ry," he said. And with that, Trey left.

**A/N:** I know there was not much Seth/Summer in this chapter; I promise to put more of them in the next one (they are my favorite, of course). I'm warning you now though; the next chapter will take me a while. These chapters I already had written like a year ago, so I just had to edit them. The next ones I have to write now, and frankly I have close to zero time on my hands, but I'll try my best for you guys!

Now click that little purple button and leave a review (please)!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I am SO SO SO SORRY it took me so long to post this chapter. It was a combination of laziness, writer's block, and frustration (from said writer's block) on my part. So once again, lo siento.

Anywho, remember in my last A/N when I said I liked this story? Well, I lied! Actually, I really did like the first two chapters, but I got halfway through this one using my original storyline when I realized it was a piece of crap and I hated it. It was kinda going nowhere.

I realized I really liked Trey (he ain't such a bad guy) and I didn't want him to go just yet. So I deleted what I done and figured out how to keep the first two chapters but change to story to keep Trey in it.

This chapter steers the story in a _completely_ different direction then I had originally planned, so I really hope you like it!

P.S: To avoid any confusion, when there's an entire sentence in _italics_ that means it's the characters thoughts.

------------------------------

Trey Atwood sat alone on the rusty cold bench at the Orange County Bus Station. Turning his head dramatically to the left, then dramatically to the right, he attempted stretch out his sore neck, which came as a result of having one particularly rough night. His surprise exit from Newport Beach had not gone as planned. It all began when he arrived at the bus station late last night, only to find that all the busses had left, and were not scheduled to return until morning. So he spent the night at the empty bus station, sleeping on the same bench he was sitting on now, waiting for the 11:00 a.m. bus to Los Angeles.

"Thought I'd find you here," said a voice from behind him.

Trey recognized that voice, and had a feeling his day was about to get a whole lot worse.

"Jess," he sighed as he turned to face the girl, "what could you _possibly_ want now?"

"I need to talk to you," she said as she came around the bench to sit down next to him. She was sporting a frayed denim mini skirt and a very revealing red spaghetti-strap tank top. The outfit was an iniquity in itself. She most likely thought she would be able to seduce him into staying; not exactly an aberration for her. Trey knew from past experience that Jess was an expert at using sexuality to get what you want, and he wasn't about to fall for it again.

"Don't even bother. I don't care what you say, I'm leaving _now_; for good. Which you probably already know seeing as how you knew I would be here"

She smirked at him, "No, no, no, no, no; you can't leave"

"Actually, Jess, I think I can. You see, this big bag right here, filled with my things," he put his hand on the large duffle back between him and Jess, "this is called luggage. And at 11:00, a bus is going to pull up there," he pointed at the street outside, "and I'm going to put my luggage on that bus, get on the bus myself, then get the hell out of this town and never come back"

"Cute, but you forgot one minor detail in your story," her smirk disappeared, "you've got a big problem _here_, and until you resolve that problem _here_, you're not going _anywhere_"

Trey raised his eyebrows, "What problem?"

She adjusted her skirt and threw a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder before continuing, "you remember that drug deal we tried to pull off at the Bait Shop?" Trey nodded his head as and obvious 'yes', "and you remember how it didn't go so hot? Well, those guys we were selling to ended up stealing _both_ bags of the coke, speed, and E, and they didn't pay a dime for it".

Trey's eyebrows were still high on his forehead, "So?"

"So?" she scoffed, and that ominous smirk reappeared on her face, "do you have any idea how much that stuff was worth? The guy who supplied the bags expected $2000 from that deal, and now that he didn't get it he's _pissed_".

"So, what? He wants $2000 from us?"

"Well, he did. Now he just wants $1000 from you," Jess's lips curled into a mischievous smile, "I've already paid".

"Where did you get $1000? Did you steal from Daddy's wallet? Cause I'm pretty sure he'd notice that amount of money missing".

"I have..._other ways_ of paying," Trey grimaced, "you _don't_".

"So what the hell am I supposed to do about it?" his voice was rising along with the severity of the situation.

_It just never ends_.

"He wants to meet tonight".

"Well," Trey laughed, "fuck that," He leaned in close to Jess's face and continued in a hushed voice, "_I'm_ not the one who screwed the deal, Jess. _You_ did all the talking, and _you_ fired the gun".

"He doesn't care about that!" she retaliated, "and he doesn't give a shit about your little incident with Newport Beach Barbie...all he cares about is his money".

Trey leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair with frustration, "Forget it. I'm leaving; there's no way he can find me anyway".

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jess took a deep breath, "Look, a couple nights ago, I was hanging out at the Bait Shop with the guy, and Baby Brother just so happened to be their as well," an evil smile creeped upon on her face, "we bumped into each other".

"_What did you do?_" Trey's blood boiled throughout his veins.

"Nothing. I just introduced him to my friend and let him on his way".

His jaw clenched, his knuckled turned white as he tightened his grip on his knees at which he stared intently, unable to bring his eyes up to look at Jess.

She put her hand on his shoulder and leaned in close once again, "Trey," she whispered, "I'm warning you, _this guy's dangerous_. All he gives a damn about it business; so whether it be in money or not, _you will pay_".

------------------------------

The orange light of a setting sun seeped through the windows of the Crab Shack, where Ryan, Marissa, Summer, and Seth sat in a booth, finishing a late lunch. The four had spent the vapid afternoon in the pool house trying in vain to advance to the next level Super Monkey Ball; Seth's new favorite game, which he had acquired the week before. The struggle went on for about an hour and a half until Seth finally had enough of Summer's desperate pleas for something new to do, and the four agreed it was time to get out of the house. Naturally, they came to the Crab Shack, where Summer shared her latest woes and frustrations, regardless of whether the other three we interested or not.

"So he just _left_? Where the _hell_ did he go?"

"I don't know Summer," Ryan sighed, "I don't think he even knew himself"

"He probably just wanted to get out as soon as possible," Seth added.

"Well, I can't believe he didn't even apologize to _you_!" Summer exclaimed, gesturing towards Marissa.

Marissa simply shrugged in response, "Jest let it go, Sum," She could tell Ryan was not in the mood to talk about the subject, nor would he ever be.

"_Makes me mad_," Summer muttered under her breath; using her fork to silently take out her anger on the remains of the burger in front of her.

Silence hung over the sad quartet for a moment while the waitress stopped by the table to drop off the bill. Seth reached out to grab the scrap of paper, but Ryan beat him to it.

"It's on me"

Marissa smiled and slid a few inches over red leather bench closer to Ryan, so her shoulder was touching his, as Seth shoved his wallet back into his pocket.

He brought his elbows to the table and clapped his fists together, "Let's go to the Bait Shop tonight," he suggested.

Marissa raised her hand like a student in a classroom, "That sounds good to me!"

"Yea...if we can across the boardwalk without being run over by skaters," Summer added bitterly, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head towards her boyfriend next to her.

Seth stared back at her with feigned sternness, "Baby, this town rips the bones from your back".

"Shut up!" she exclaimed, bringing up her hand to push his face away from hers.

------------------------------

"Diet Coke, please!" Marissa leaned over the bar and shouted to the bar tender, who nodded and turned his back to her to fulfill her order.

She turned on the barstool to face Ryan sitting next to her, "I'm really glad we got out!"

Their faces we about six inches apart, but it was still necessary to yell to hear each other over the music.

"Me too!" Ryan replied, and hung his arm around her shoulders.

On the opposite side of him, the other couple was having their conversation in a similar manner.

"This is Brand New!" Seth exclaimed to Summer, pointing his finger up to the ceiling, yet at nothing in particular.

"What's brand new?!"

"No, the band playing is called Brand New!"

"Oh..." Summer paused a moment to take in the sound, "They suck!"

"That's _your_ opinion!"

With a tap on the shoulder, Ryan's attention was diverted back towards Marissa. He faced her, but she said nothing. Instead, she pointed to the balcony overhead, and Ryan's eyes followed her finger upwards until they landed on the two people he knew Marissa had seen.

"Is that Trey?!"

To Ryan's surprise, it was. Trey was being led by the hand into the back of the club.

_You've _got_ to be kidding me..._

------------------------------

Jess led the way as her and Trey weaved though the crowd of people into a dark back room, away from the flashing strobe lights and blasting music. Two couches and a chair were arranged around an oval shaped coffee table; on which were the not-so-subtle remains of a coke line.

"Trey, this is Volcheck," Jess introduced him to the blond guy lounging on one of the couches, his arm around a dark haired girl who appeared to be unconscious. Trey focused on her for a moment, then glanced at the scattered piles of white powder on the table before turning his attention back to Volcheck, who had put his arm around Jess as she sat down next to him.

Volcheck, _is that seriously his name?_

"Trey Atwood, we finally get to meet," he said with a smug smile and an arrogant tone of superiority in his voice.

Trey jammed his fists into his pockets, "Yes, we do".

Trey was no amateur in this business, and clearly neither was Volcheck. But he knew how to handle himself around him. Trey had dealt with at least a thousand carbon copies of this guy back in Chino: gun in his back pocket, switchblade in his front, and perpetually surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

First things first, he would aim to establish his dominance in the relationship, as if in a pack of dogs. Volcheck was silently trying to communicate his position as Alpha Male; make it clear that Trey was to take orders from _him._

The only flaw in this system, however, is quite simple: people are not dogs, and Trey wasn't about to be treated like one.

"Sit down," Volcheck gestured towards the couch on the opposite side of the table.

"I'll stand," Trey replied sharply.

In a flash of a second, Volcheck's features hardened, then relaxed again. Trey's response had obviously been one of the few times his authority was challenged.

"Fine," he sighed as he removed his arms from the girls' shoulders and stood up to face Trey, "If you stand, I'll stand".

"I understand you expect some money from me".

Volcheck placed his hands on his hips and shrugged, "Someone's gotta pay for the shit I lost".

"And that someone's me?"

"I'm giving you one week to get me $1000".

"I need more time then that," Trey responded, immediately regretting it; surprised at how difficult he was suddenly finding it to keep his voice stoic.

"This is not a negotiation," Volcheck said as he took a step closer to Trey, then turned back to the spot he was previously sitting, "I'm gonna make this quick and clear cause I've got somewhere to be," he gathered a wallet, cell phone, and pack of cigarettes into his pockets, "you give me $1000 in one week," he shoved Trey aside and headed out the door, "or Baby Brother doesn't make it back to school this Fall".

It took Trey only a moment to process this information.

He sharply turned on his heels, "Hey!"

Volcheck stopped in the doorway and turned back to Trey.

"I'll try my best to get you your money in one week," the quiver in his voice had vanished; replaced with the deep, slow tone of controlled anger, "but if you put your hands on him, I'll put you in the _ground_".

"Trey, don't," Jess warned.

Volcheck merely scoffed, "That a _threat_, Atwood?"

"That's a _promise_".

------------------------------

**A/N:** Well, I hope you guys all saw this chapter as NOT a complete waste of your life! I know there's not as much Summereth in this new plot, but I tried my best to squeeze them in whenever I could; they _are_ still my favorite. I wrote a oneshot, "Hands Down", to make up for it, so check it out, yo! (and I apologize for the shameless self-advertisement).

Kudos to anyone who got the painfully obvious Bruce Springsteen reference!!!

Now don't just sit there, leave a review! Speak yo mind!


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